#like hell yeah I use any pronouns so make up neopronouns for me

[donnieisaprettyboy]

“gender is a social construct” okay so why are you bullying people using neopronouns 🤨

[vaugarde]

15 & 19?

15. Do any of your ocs use neopronouns? Which ones?

Currently there's just Kiran, my GTI partner OC! Xe uses Xe/They pronouns. I'd like to do more though

19. Do you have preferences about depicting homo/transphobia in your stories? What, and why? Does it vary by story?

If you asked me a few years ago, it'd have been a hard no for everything, especially fandom stuff. But now, I've written a creative college project about that exact thing, so... yeah. I'm still trying to break out of my "overcorrective" mindset where I was so paranoid about doing things "right" in my stories that I felt terrible for including anything about bigotry because of all those posts like "oh, you're a terrible awful person for recreating homophobia in fantasy!!" that circulated a while back.

I'm still sorta thinking on it for my oc projects- in the short stories I wrote for my video game story for college, one of the characters had a homophobic mom, so once I go and flesh that verse out, I'd like to elaborate on that, like how representation affects queer people irl.

Buuut for Sordid Souls and all my PMD ocs, I wanna follow the idea that societal norms and terminology are different because of the separate histories and whatnot. No clue what I'm doing in Sordid Souls yet, but for PMD I have some stuff down that I'd like to elaborate on ^^ Mostly regarding transgender issues.

Basically it's much more normalized and the concept of "coming out" isn't really a thing most of the time. I kinda wanna nab Eve's thing where once you figure out you're trans, your aura reflects that and other Pokemon just naturally pick up on that. The neutral pronoun is changed from "they" to "it" (to reference the first PMD game where that was the case), and "it" is also used to refer to legendaries, so rather than being derogatory, it's actually a pretty honorable pronoun! Some might even see you as a bit full of yourself for using it..... (As an aside, I know that creates inconsistencies, but for now I'm excusing it as like... these Pokemon don't really speak English? They're doing pokespeak. So there are some untranslatable elements, is what I'm going with.

Since evolution is so encouraged and celebrated in this world, that means change is too, in a way (insert ISAT joke), so really changing your gender and pronouns is seen as another faucet of that, especially since aura reflects it. Hell, names are treated differently too, some Pokemon have different names depending on which town they're in, some don't give theirs out at all, so even name changes are just kinda like "alrighty, so anyways," It's just something some Pokemon do, and some Pokemon don't.

That being said, I still imagine that in certain groups and parts of the world, there's some weirdness and transphobia. They usually get dismissed or even made fun of because usually these Pokemon also align with Pokemon that like... think evolution is bad, actually. But in certain isolated instances, it can be damaging to trans Pokemon they know.

There's currently only two instances of this in canon and I'm gonna keep quiet about one because I'm off and on about it and worried about the reception.

But the other instance is Odin. TBH he's an isolated incident where he's literally just transphobic to Maya. Because "oh, my son's not smart enough to figure that out. That Scizor must have confused him (Maya adjusted her aura years before she met Cheri)." He's also just clinging to the father and son branding he used when he was her manager, and how dare she try and confuse people by changing it to father and DAUGHTER?

Actually now that I think about it, both cases I'm thinking of are also crossed with the perpetrators being ableist and trying to take agency away from their disabled kids. Which tracks. Ableism on the other hand is something that comes up a lot so it makes sense that it'd intersect with transphobia sometimes.

[leffee]

do u have any lgbtq lps hcs? 👀

I will keep worshipping you for letting me babble about this show.

However, I don't exactly. Well, I kinda do but in a non-satisfying way. Basically, I projected the heck out and, for the people who were on this blog before they probably know, I headcanon all my favourite characters as asexuals. And by that I mean all the lps pets, all humans, e v e r y o n e. Is it realistic? Lmao, not in the slightest, but I can't bring myself to do it any other way (Also, I'm sex repulsed, fuuuuuuc).

Also, while we're talking about it, can we talk about that whole Vinnie is gay stuff? Like, hells yeah, I love Vinnil of course, and I don't mind him being gay, but, man, there's something I need to say. I don't like how Vinnie and Sunil by a LOT of people back in the day were being sold as this "omg looks how close they are, they HAVE TO 100% be boyfriends". And I'm like, no, no. Dare I say it was toxic. It's one thing when talking about fictional characters, but think about how boys seeing this could have felt. Finally, a cartoon gives us two male characters that have a strong friendship and are quite affectionate with each other. And then everyone is saying they have to be a couple. We keep saying that men should also be allowed to be affectionate with each other, but then when they are, we automatically insist they're gay. No. There are man in real life who very much can't be affectionate even if both parties are okay with it because others will just non-cricitally accept that they are gays while they might not be. And I don't know about you, but I, a very much asexual person, wouldn't want to be seen as gay or bi or anything else that I'm not. All I'm saying is, if two male characters have are affectionate with each other, it does not mean we should assume they're gay (Vinnil still rules though).

Do pronouns count as lgbtq headcanons? I think so? But unfortuantely, I don't have any pronouns headcanons, or more like I just use the ones they use in the show so he/him for da boys and she/her for gals. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't dislike other pronouns (though some I find very confusing, and by some I mean neopronouns. Not in a "ugh, I hate them" but man, someone has to say it, they are so many of them and they are not something you see everyday. I remember trying to read a fanfic in which one character used neopronouns and gave up half-way through), but I always had this mindset of using only the pronouns they use in the show, not only lps of course. Now, you might say that lps doesn't have any other pronouns because it was made in 2012 and for a while after that. And! You would be right. Maybe if it was made today we would have characters who use they/them etc. But alas we don't. And I don't like selling pronouns like hot cakes.

Srsly, let me know if I make these responses much bigger than they need to be xd. I just like talking about my babies. As always, feel free to send more. I'm so normal about this show.

[the-axe-forgets]

There's this weird divide between binary and nobinary trans people that I feel like isn’t talked about enough, at least that I’ve seen.

To some binary trans people, nonbinary trans people are absurd and holding the community back. See neopronoun/xenogender discourse. To some nonbinary trans people, binary trans people are holding themselves back from really exploring their gender, or trying to appeal to cis people.

And I think it stems from a similar place to the causes of the "not like other girls" trope. Minorities are either desperate to double down and make ourselves "presentable" for the majority, or we have a deep desire to say "fuck yeah, I'm XYZ, what're you gonna do about it?" 

And neither are inherently bad. I myself am a binary trans man who tries to go as stealth as possible, and I know plenty of nonbinary trans people that are very open about identifying as such. An issue arises when we're pitted against each other by cis people. Trans people have been marketed as many different things. We've been sold as just-like-you types, and fuck-the-system types, as well as the transphobic predatory types we see in both outdated and modern media.

Not only is gender a spectrum, but so is how out one wants to be. Some people are absolutely not willing to tell anyone about their identity. Some people will indulge if asked, but are otherwise stealth. Some wear subtle representations, such as pronoun pins, to let you know they're either queer or a queer ally. Some might introduce themselves as genderqueer upon meeting someone new. None of these are bad. None of these are bootlicking or obnoxious. How someone chooses to treat their identity is no different from how they choose to share it.

But the divide comes when queer people, often those that are newer to the wider community, feel as though their experience and views about sharing their queerness is the end-all-be-all for how other trans people should healthily approach their own identities.

And I don't think it comes out of hostility. I don't think the uneducated or the ignorant should be attacked. But I do think it's worth addressing why this happens, and how it harms the general community.

Hell, I'm not exempt from this point of view myself. I still feel some internalized disdain for those who introduce themselves with their identity/pronouns, and though I acknowledge it's wrong and scold myself away from thinking differently of that person, there's so much to dismantle before I can completely rid myself of that mindset.

I've got a long road ahead in terms of ridding myself of all my internalized transphobia, and it'll take years, possibly even decades, to fully erase how my surroundings have influenced me.

I think it's worth examining that inside yourself, not only to make yourself a better person, but also to help make the queer spaces you engage in more welcoming and more free of how transphobia has affected us as queer people. The likes of Kalvin Garrah and Blaire White deeply fucked up online spaces, and generational prejudice did even worse for the possible centuries to come.

This is getting really long so I'll wrap it up, but I think as queer people there's a sort of responsibility to step back and really thoroughly get ourselves in check. I highly doubt anyone is 100% free of internal transphobia. And that's not to say you're horrible for having it, I just admitted to being "guilty" myself, but if you recognize it and choose to ignore it you're not doing yourself (or those around you) any good at all.

This is really a ramble more than anything. It’s meant to open up a conversation, rather than be the conversation. I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences, and if you disagree I’d really love to hear your take.

[5typesoftrash]

Prompt: nb!Sam hurt/comfort and/or fluff with Cas

Okay. Crowley? JJ? You’re amazing. This ask is amazing. This is exactly what I was hoping for and you just gave me the little burst of inspiration I needed to finish this thing. I love you so fricking much.

I hope this fits your criteria.

If you want me to, I’ll write an extension of this where Sam comes out to Dean.

It wasn't exactly that Sam didn't know. Well, it sort of was that Sam didn't know. But it also wasn't like that.

Sam knew that real Sam was... a different Sam than the Sam that Dean saw. And Sam also knew that Cas could see the real Sam.

Sam wasn't quite sure how Sam felt about that.

(Also, Sam hated pronouns. Like seriously, what the fuck is even the point of pronouns? Everybody has names for a reason, just call everyone by their name all the time and then there's no need for pronouns. Unless you're talking about a group... alright, so Sam could admit that Sam's argument didn't hold much water.)

So it wasn't exactly that Sam didn't know, it was more that Sam didn't know all of it, and it was difficult and confusing for Sam to try and figure it out.

And until Sam figured out what the hell Sam's pronouns were, there were no pronouns, and Sam was just Sam.

Sam remembered so many things that didn't really make sense. Things like the way Sam had always grown out Sam's hair, the way Sam had always kind of liked dresses and makeup, the way Sam felt a little bit too... happy when Dean called Sam 'Samantha' as a (somewhat misogynistic) jab.

Sam also remembered liking Sam's body, subscribing to several traditionally masculine habits and hobbies, relating to male characters in things and seeing things from a very male point of view.

So the short version was, Sam had no idea if Sam was trans or just confused.

Sam had had a chance to try and figure it out, once. There used to be a beautiful girl with blond hair and a sparkling smile who looked at Sam like Sam was her entire world who Sam knew would have helped Sam figure it out.

But Jessica Moore was dead now, and no amount of Sam's praying was going to bring her back to Sam, and Sam had never taken her up on that when Sam had the chance. Sam had always been a little too scared to reach out. So Sam had never really figured it out.

But it- it hurt now. It never used to hurt. It used to just be this feeling of weird, of wrong, like putting a hand into hot water and it feeling cold, even though you know it's not supposed to. Sam had always thought it was one of those things that was just inherently wrong with Sam, that Sam was messed up, irreparably damaged somehow, and it was just a Sam thing. (And it wasn't as though Sam's brother and father hadn't reinforced that narrative at all.)

It was suddenly physically painful, just a few years into living at the Bunker, and Sam knew that Sam had to do something about this. Sam couldn't look it up on Sam's laptop because Sam didn't think Sam would remember to clear Sam's internet search history and Dean might jump onto Sam's laptop for porn, so Sam had only one other resource.

"Hey, can we talk?" Sam asked, in the same uncomfortably deep voice Sam had had since Sam was fifteen or sixteen years old. Castiel looked up at Sam, with that look that Cas wore sometimes like the person talking to him was the most important person in the world and whatever they had to say was the most important thing he could hear.

"Of course, Sam."

Sam sighed and sat down next to Castiel on the couch. "So... I might be a girl? But I also might not be a girl? But I don't feel like a guy? I don't even know, I need help."

Cas smiled wisely at him. "Are you aware that there are other options?"

Sam blinked. "Other options?" Sam repeated, staring blankly.

"Besides male and female?" Cas elaborated.

"There are?" Sam asked, completely confused.

"I'll take that as a no," Cas murmured, patting Sam's shoulder. He shifted in his seat so they were facing each other. "Most people are only aware of the two binary genders, meaning male and female. However, there is an entire spectrum of gender identity in between and nowhere near those two genders."

Sam stared at him, fascinated.

"There's an umbrella term, 'trans', which includes any and all people whose internal sense of gender doesn't line up with their assigned sex, which is just the primary and secondary sex characteristics. Binary trans people are male-to-female or MTF, and female-to-male or FTM. Meanwhile, there's another umbrella term within that umbrella called 'nonbinary' that includes anyone and everyone who doesn't identify exclusively as one or the other. There are hundreds of other, more specific terms for nonbinary people, but I don't want you to hurt yourself." He smirked a little at Sam, and that was just too much.

What the fuck.

"How do you know all this stuff?" Sam asked quietly. Cas glanced away.

"The internet is very helpful. I've never experienced what most people call 'dysphoria', which is, I believe, what drove you to me, but I have found that I never cared, and that is common among angels. Angels do not inherently have genders. But I searched list after list of gender identities for several years after I joined the two of you for good and finally settled on 'agender'."

"What's that mean?" Sam asked distractedly, still trying to process everything that was being thrown at Sam.

"Agender means 'apart from gender', which means, in its essence, that I identify as no gender at all, and would accept any and all pronouns."

"So... so nonbinary people, they don't use he/him or she/her, so then... what pronouns would they use?"

"Most use they and them, although some use neopronouns such as xe/xem or ve/ver."

Sam took a shaky breath in as Sam attempted to wrap Sam's head around everything Cas had said.

Sam wasn't exactly a guy. That was about all that Sam knew. But Sam didn't really feel like a girl, either. So maybe...

"I think I'm nonbinary," Sam whispered. Cas put a hand on Sam's arm.

"Awesome," he whispered, and Sam laughed.

"I- I like they and them."

Cas shrugged. "Perfect. Do you want to tell Dean or do you want me to?"

"I think... I think you should. I'm... scared."

Cas looked at his friend, then, in a rare gesture of love, reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. "You don't need to be scared, Sam. Your brother loves you. He will support you. But if you want me to talk to him for you, I will."

"I love you, Cas," Sam whispered. "Thank you."

"I love you too," Cas replied, brushing his lips across Sam's forehead. "And you are very welcome."

Sam turned and walked to the door, but stopped when Cas spoke again. "Sam, do you like feminine presenting items?"

Sam turned. "Yeah," Sam admitted. Cas looked pleased.

"Let's go shopping tomorrow, I'll buy you some skirts and makeup."

Sam stared at her. (Sam could use she/her pronouns for Cas, right? Cas said she didn't care what pronouns people used for her.) "That sounds... that sounds awesome."

Cas smiled, and Sam smiled back, and suddenly they were a whole different person.

@incredulousanteater @wickedwithwings @fandomallthetime24601

[trenderworm]

thinkin about the truscum/tucute communities again and how ive become the stereotypical “cis gnc trender” they talk about.

babey trans n nb people on either side: theres nothin wrong with not wanting surgeries, hormones, not caring to pass etc. it doesnt make you any less (identity here)

im almost 18, ive known i wasnt cis since i was about 11 or 12 (maybe longer tbh) and i didnt discover it because of dysphoria. on top of that i was only dysphoric from 16-17, when i had my truscum phase. before that i wasnt dysphoric at all. and im not anymore.

i dont even know if i want surgeries because im afraid ill be dysphoric (NOT because ill look like a guy, but because im scared ill be dissatisfied with result(s)) and that doesnt make me any less trans??

i am nondysphoric. i started hormone blockers feb 25 2019 and started hrt on july 30 the same year. (as of writing, its march 1 2020) so im getting pretty close to my 1yr on t. i dont plan on staying on it forever.

i plan on stopping when i get my desired results (voice/body hair/etc) and theres nothing wrong w that? hell i might change my mind in the future and decide i wanna stay on.??? and thats fine. ppls minds change

and like. i dont pass that well. at all. ive got kinda long hair (well, medium but its getting there) and my fashion doesnt help at all because im into alt shit. but u know what? u dont have to pass for people to respect u. cis men get she/her’d or they/them’d and like.. thats fine. yeah it sucks when you think you look super masc but its okay. just laugh it off and go “oh, actually-!” because it happens!!! people usually dont mean to misgender u.

pronouns are not something people can treat as a privlage/something you earn. you use he/him? she/her? neopronouns like bun/buns or maybe even bone/bones???? hell yeah! i love that for you. dont let people walk over you and ignore your pronouns

i dont know where im going with this at all but rly. the truscum community fucked me up lowkey and i find a lot of comfort in the mogai/neutral/tucute communities. like yeah both sides have their bad apples but its like that everywhere no matter what ??? u kno ???

i am TIRED man

if this gets any notes: feel free to interact if youre truscum/transmed (NO TERFS) and if youre tucute/mogai/neutral/etc just dont clown on my shit please.

also dont point out typos if there are any or go “uhhhh x dont make sense” aggressively I KNOW my brain dun work

[mell0bee]

a guide to mell0bee

my bio got too long and idk how to make a carrd

also this probably helps me keep track of my stuff more than anyone who’s following me used to navigate my blog sooooo

some basic info:

i am a college student studying neuroscience and biology (oh boy) and also i make dumb posts on the internet.

(mostly reblogs with the occasional liveblogs, fanfiction, or general clownery)

…yeah that’s about it

as for the pronouns in my bio: basically i prefer they/them, then she/her, then any pronouns including he/him or neopronouns. but i do use all of them!

socials:

my ao3 is the same name!! mell0bee! i occasionally post oneshots there if you’re interested

also dm me if u want my discord

basic tags:

original posts are [#bee post]

queue tag is [#queue birds on a wire] which i will spam with some art usually

[#bee writes] for my writing (more frequent) & [#bee draws] for my art (less frequent)

spoiler tags:

in general i tag spoilers for a really long time, even for older stuff. stuff like designs/characters/locations i don’t but if it’s explicit plot spoilers i do, so if you don’t mind that you are safe! sometimes i do forget though, and some characters are walking spoilers so there’s not much i can do abt that

most things will be tagged with the acronym like this: [#tdp spoilers] including: cr, exu, toh, tdp, spop, tlovm

also i tag spoilers for like, forever, so you should be safe! (though for older spoilers i forget sometimes)

infinity train is tagged as [#infinity train spoilers]

kipo and the age of wonderbeasts is tagged as [#kipo spoilers]

twelve forever is tagged as [#twelve forever spoilers]

amphibia is tagged as [#amphibia spoilers]

kid cosmic is tagged as [#kid cosmic spoilers]

common untagged spoilers: avatar/lok, gravity falls, over the garden wall, everything nintendo (pls ask if you’d like me to tag spoilers for these ones!)

teeny tiny dimension 20 section

everything is tagged [#dimension 20] and by campaign name, so ex: [#fantasy high]

any spoilers are [#d20 spoilers]

my liveblog tag is [#bee watches d20]

also i’m new to dropout, am planning to go through all the campaigns, no spoilers pls :D

critical role gets its own section because it’s taken over my life

pretty much everything is tagged [#critical role] and main-campaign spoilers are [#cr spoilers]

if a new pc/npc is introduced, i’ll tag non-plot-spoilery art of them as spoilers until the episode is out on youtube (usually monday)

starting at the end of c2, i started tagging by party name: campaign 1 stuff is tagged [#vox machina] and campaign 2 stuff is tagged [#mighty nein], and campaign 3 is [#bell’s hells] for your filtering convenience

anything exandria unlimited is tagged [#exu spoilers] and NOT [#cr spoilers], though i still tag by party name: crown keepers is [#the crown keepers] and calamity is [exu calamity] unless we get a party name.

liveblog/bingewatch tags: [#bee watches campaign 2] for my c2 bingewatch/liveblog, [#bee watches cr oneshots] for any oneshot liveblogs, [#bee watches exu] for exandria unlimited liveblogs, and [#bee watches c3] for c3 pre-campaign-posting and liveblog! (sadly i did not liveblog when watching c1 rip)

also i’ve been using [#tlovm spoilers] for stuff in tlovm and adding [#cr spoilers] as well if it spoils something that hasn’t happened in tlovm. so tlovm-only people should be safe on this blog as well :D

other tags:

[#bee goes to school] for my student screaming into the void posts

some saved posts: [#helpful] [#positivity] [#rainy day] [#writing stuff] [#writing ref [#student stuff] [#college tag] [#rpg stuff] [#dice tag]

those bait posts (reblog for good luck or your family will die!) are tagged as [#reblog bait] and [#superstitious post]

i will usually tag suicide as [#suicide tw] and blood as [#blood tw]

also there’s a lot of tags that show up in the search function even though i haven’t used them in 2 years, sorry about that

and a whole lot of old dumb posts. listen i’ve been here since i was like 13 it’s inevitable

other stuff:

racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ablesim, all sorts of gatekeeping BS, ect ect, are not tolerated. maybe go reevaluate your life decisions bro.

if u happen to post ns////fw stuff: you keep doing you bro, i have 0 problem with you, i just don’t wanna see that stuff. i won’t follow and might block if i keep seeing ur stuff somehow.

same goes for roleplay or xreader stuff SORRY you keep going man i just don’t wanna see it

in general i make liberal use of the block button and am a firm believer in marie kondo’ing my online experience. i will block blogs that have never interacted with me because i see a Bad Take. if i see you participating in pointless Disk Horse you will be blocked lmao sorry

i also sometimes block blogs that are marked as having adult content but i know that system sucks so if you’re blocked by me for seemingly no reason that’s why

also i talk in my tags a lot sorry about that

feel free to like/reblog spam a tag! i don't mind!

ask me to tag stuff!!

also i am friendly so if u wanna talk hmu, i can be painfully socially awkward sometimes but that’s okay aren’t we all on this website

i am always looking for show/game/movie recommendations. please give me ur recs thank u.

[askplayerpkmn]

Q&A

What is this?

A story based Pokémon ask blog. It’s set in a post-post-apocalyptic PMD world. There’s quite a few characters to keep track of, haha. Also everything is completely normal and there is nothing sinister going on don't even worry about it.

Any rules regarding asks?

There aren’t many rules to what kind of asks you can/can't send besides:

no NSFW (flirting is totally fine tho!)

no human characters interacting

no magic anons (unless I ask for them)

Legendary pokemon technically allowed but not really for casual asks (since theyre extremely rare and important to the world). Depending on the legendary, I may choose not to answer your ask if I have to do a lot of write-around for it. (especially for arceus and mews specifically! sorry y'all)

if while sending an ask on anon, if you would like to appear as a specific pokemon, clarify in the ask! ex: "(bulbasaur) blah blah blah" NOTE: you totally dont have to do this!! this is mostly just for fun :)

Feel free to send as many asks as you would like (within reason)! The same blogs/characters interacting repeatedly is totally cool! Just dont spam my inbox and we're fine :)

Are there any trigger warnings I should know about?

Yes!! There won’t be much triggering content in the majority of posts BUT it will be there in a few of them! I’m the type of person who copes with shitty things by writing about it.

All triggering post will be appropriately tagged. If there is an untagged post OR another tag you would like me to use, please send an ask or DM and let me know! It’s very important to me that I don’t accidentally trigger anyone so please correct me if i mess up! Here’s some content I’m going to tag:

blood/gore

child neglect/abuse

transphobia, homophobia, etc.

Who is the mod?

Oh! Hello! I’m Milo! Here’s all you really need to know lmao:

My pronouns are Vi/Vin/Vis, He/Him/His, and maybe Ae/Aem/Aer (here's a guide on how to use them!)

I’m finally 18!!! hell yes

I’m a demiboy, acearo, polyam, and bi gay dude... so I'm a big queer basically

My main pokesona is a vaporeon (vis name is Watercolor), but I also really love porygon and arcanine!

I used to run @occasionallyarcanine and @dailyowten

My main blog is @gayboybeetle and my art blog is @vaguelymammal

Do you care who follows you?

oh yeah for sure, I don’t want nasty folks around me if I can avoid it.

DNI IF YOU: Are an exclusionist, transmed/truscum, terf (including secret terfs), radfem, gender critical, LGBTphobic, anti-neopronouns, racist, far-right, trump supporter/someone who voted for trump in 2020, anti-BLM, or antisemitic. Y’all aren't welcome.

(also please don’t follow if your main is a NSFW blog, it makes me uncomfy)

and because I've seen a bit of drama in the pokeask community, I'm going to say it again: If you are transphobic do NOT follow me. In fact, block me.

(and this very much includes if you purposefully do not use someone's correct pronouns/name/etc. yes, even if they're being shitty. you don't get to pick and choose who is allowed to be gendered correctly, you're just an asshole.)

thanks y’all :)

[rowans-road]

1.8.19

Day two of class! I had three classes today, they went pretty well. The one I'm gonna talk about here is my Women and Gender Studies (WGS) class. It's taught by an amazing prof who I had met before, and it was. Wow.

We walked in, and on the board she had written like a bullet list: preferred name, pronouns, group identity. That was how we went around and introduced ourselves, and it's really awesome that she did that!

Did I take advantage of it as a time to use my actual preferred name and pronouns?

No.

I introduced myself as the name everyone always uses, and as using they/she pronouns. She even asked if I used them interchangeably or alternated!! She genuinely cared! I was amazed. I just said they were interchangeable, even though in the moment I was tempted to backtrack and say like "I prefer they/them, but she/her is fine, I guess." But then like...other people's pronouns are not optional. And I'm conscious that for some of the other students that may have been their first time hearing someone use different pronouns than they're used to, and I didn't want to give them the impression that pronouns are optional. And honestly mine shouldn't be, but no way in hell can I enforce that ever?

Oh I forgot to mention, before asking us to introduce ourselves, she explained a brief history of neopronouns and they/them!!

I'm really looking forward to this class. Unfortunately, it makes me shake just thinking about actually using my pronouns out loud? I'm so hung up on this and I think I might know why.

I feel like, if I introduce myself as exclusively using they/them, I'll be obligated to correct people all the time (which I can't and won't do), field every single question that comes my way (which unfortunately I probably would do even though I'd die of anxiety in the process), and conform entirely to a nonexistent role. Which. No. And I feel like if I fail to do any of these things, I'll be "faking it".

Of course I don't expect these things of anyone else, but I somehow can't stop demanding it of myself.

Yeah. The more I think about this, the more I'm pretty sure I want to ask my friends to use they/them for me. Maybe I'll do that soon.

Farewell, and good night!

[sleepymarmot]

A couple of months ago, after finishing COUNTER/Weight, I spent about a week in a total hangover, relistening to scenes and having feelings. I took some notes, but procrastinated posting them, and then finally got distracted. But, a) I hate leaving things I intended for tumblr unposted, even if they have value only for me, and b) I also hate posting things out of order, and there's a big TM liveblog incoming. So, here's a bunch of really random thoughts about C/w from past me.

The gnosis virus did go nowhere huh. I was hopeful for a minute when one of the finale intros mentioned it, but that was it. What was the purpose of that arc even. [Note from present me: Lol. At least I feel better about this one!]

Oh, and the patch AuDy left never reappeared either. And the idea from the faction game that Aria's images owned by EarthHome/Petrichor transmit Rigour code… That's the flip side of the coin. On the one hand, it's really cool to see the creative process – on the other, it sometimes feels like you're listening to people write a script for the tv show, but only get to see a half of the finished product. It's fascinating to see the universe grow organically and the players to come up with new ideas and get excited about them – but that means numerous retcons, some of them not even presented as such, because the creators forgot what the previous revision was or didn't thought it was important. It's a unique feature of the medium that player choice directs the narrative and it's not bound by railroading – but that means some roads lead nowhere, and some branches dry and fall off.

It's a bit harder to make peace with something that could have easily been developed more within the existing plot of the show. How come there's a player character whose consciousness consists of three different people in various combinations, but nobody seems to be curious how that works? No PC or NPC ever asked “Which one of you is speaking right now?” or something. The final episodes made a lot of things clearer, but it still felt too little, too late. Hard not to be reminded of that gripe about certain two characters sharing one character sheet one of whom was left underdeveloped and half-forgotten… Both are very ambitious concepts that require a double amount of work from the player, so I feel bad complaining they weren't realized to full potential, but…

Speaking of L&D… I still want to know how the hell did that one engineer all by herself design 4 gods, one of which became a basis for technology that was advanced even for the civilizations 80,000 years later? This woman singlehandedly surpassed any technological achievement of humanity before and after. Who Is She

I saw a “Wake me up: before you go go / when september ends / wake me up inside” meme and thought “heh, this sounds relevant, which member of the Chime is which?” and it already made me sad, but then I realized that I'd never actually heard the september song and looked it up and. The lyrics fit so well. What the fuck. It's an old song everyone keeps joking about. Why is it appropriate for a legitimate fanmix. What. I guess the word “September” will never be the same again for me.

I looked up the rules for Firebrands, the game used for the finale. Oh my, challenges for the dance minigame are so overtly romantic when you see them in a list together! Imagine this cast of characters having to answer to “do you place your hand upon my elbow, shoulder, waist, or hip?” lmao. Also I didn't realize “May I?” was part of the rules for “stealing time together”. (And I found out there's a party version of that minigame with bug-themed challenges. I might have dug too deep…) "Tactical skirmish" is a really fascinating concept, I've never seen such a masochistic combat system! Really faces the player with the violence they're inflicting: sure, you can always fight on, but are you ready to live with what you'll have to do? But for it to work fully, you need a lot of non-expendable NPCs on both sides. The one with the most likeable team wins! (Like Mako did.)

I'm relistening to Three Conversations and it's pretty interesting that Ibex has a bunch perfectly lifelike android bodies, right? There is no such technology seen anywhere else. Did Righteousness develop and privatize that? Are they so complex that only a Divine would have enough computing power to successfully mimic organic life? Can Aria convince Righteousness to help her perform on stage without leaving her duties? Also, like with AuDy, I wonder how Ibex & Righteousness' consciousness works. Is it a single mind, spread across every body he has, or even anything Righteousness is running on, having a bunch of different conversations at once if he needs to? Or is the original Ibex just gone, and what's left is a personality imprint hanging on to the connection to his still living body, imitating his former self like the automated recording Cass saw wore his face? In other words, has Ibex completely fused with Righteousness, or assimilated and destroyed by it? Does he not exist anymore as an independent singular being, or does he not exist at all? Most info indicates the former, but there was also “You’re not in there anymore” “No”.

If Orth and Jace are anime fans with their Kingdom Come and Panther, then Ibex is the guy who's way too into dinosaurs or paleontology. It's as if the heads of various confessions were called Triceratops, Stegosaurus etc. and only one of them knows wtf that means, and also he compares his Divine to… Were there scavenging dinosaurs? I'm looking at an article that suggests T. Rex might have been a scavenger, so yeah he would compare Righteousness to a goddamn T. Rex.

Hey what do you think is the most thematically aproppriate part of the Hieron anime for Orth to watch alone at night during the Kingdom game. What's the best thematic parallel for when he turns off the episode and thinks he made a mistake. Do you think that he once, after a long day and a long month and maybe a long year of feeling helpless and doomed, sits down for a distraction but ends up sobbing “How could they let this happen to Mother Glory”

On Joypark, there are definitely statues of Eidolons, ancient and holy, that were repainted and repurposed as Hieron deities. Imagine a giant Greek or Roman style marble statue of Apote – and it’s painted over as Samot, with an anime face and in really bright plain colors like these “reconstructions of original coloring” that actually only use base colors so they look like cheap action figures.

I was reading Austin's top ten games of 2016 list on Waypoint and he gave first place to The Sprawl! Aww!

The Downloads folder in my phone gallery is funny bc it mostly consists of every freely available f@tt map and also that one photo of Tristan Walker (because I tried to redraw it, very unsuccessfully). I go check a map and every time am met by Ibex just. staring at me. It's unsettling

Some of the many options for how Apostolosian gender could have been presented:

Apostolosians prefer to be addressed by the most neutral available human pronoun, represented as "they" in English, because the human languages don't have anything close enough

Apostolosian pronouns are represented in English by a set of real-life common pronouns and neopronouns

There's a list of Apostolosian pronouns and they're just used in English verbatim (Really impractical because the players need a cheat sheet, but the most fair)

Humans apply human genders to Apostolosians. Apostolosians may be offended, may find it convenient, or something else

As Austin said in the post-mortem, the Eidolon system is not gender. It's represented in English by titles/honorifics/etc

Any of the above, and the creators are aware of the difference between personal pronouns, grammatical gender, and social gender

And that’s not even touching the core problem of what the concept of gender in a futuristic, techonologically advanced society would look like. Yes, I'm complaining about this for the third time but I'm just. So tired of native English speakers' takes on gendered language. They could have made Apostolosian gender look like anything and they made it look like that fucking mess... God, I really hope TM is good enough to make me forget and forgive the experience of listening to “he... sorry, they” for 100 hours. [Note from present me: Well… mostly]

Here’s my take on this: eidolons in Apostolosian language are absurdly broad noun classes with associated classifiers (which fits both the idea that they’re gender but not actually, and that each of them is a patron to several unrelated aspects of life) Apostolosian: the word “(Apo)thesa” is used to refer to people who follow the corresponding eidolon, as well as for counting buildings, heavy machinery, military units, specific strategies and tactics, log entries, historical documents and chronicles, history textbooks and monographs, and eras :) Human: what the fuck

Very critical, imaginative worldbuilding in which 80,000+ years into the future humanity somehow has 21st century gender and 21st century capitalism! TBH, I find any sci-fi set in the far future inherently silly – we can’t really imagine the future technogy and its effect on society. But it feels like C/w barely even tried, and to hear it boast about “critical worldbuilding” is kinda strange. I assumed that meant they build the world critically, not that they recreate modern society or some aspect of it and criticize that! It’s just another Star Trek then! And it was already clear right during the setup when they said “We don’t want Star Trek aliens” and immediately created Apostolosians.

I haven't seen a single piece of fanart with Taako and Mako. Come on, does nobody want to see these two next to each other! Especially considering the outfits artists like to put Taako in!

I really don't understand how and why people do fandom activities on Twitter and Discord where the creators also have accounts. It gives me so much secondhand embarrassment. I can barely peek at Twitter posts before running away. Old-fashioned opinion apparently but I strongly believe the main fandom space and the interaction-with-original-creators space should be separate. I need a space where I can voice my opinions, especially negative ones, with complete freedom. I need to be able to say exactly what's on my mind. But I wouldn't want any of the people on the podcast to read something unfiltered like my complaints above. Being in the same space as the source content creators obliges any decent person to be diplomatic and constructive. And the creators, in turn, need a space where they don't come across complete randos yelling at them about something they said in a podcast three years ago. I'm already feeling uncomfortable because hearing to strangers pour their hearts out for hundreds of hours gives me way too much insight on who they are as people. Of course, nothing’s stopping them from lurking on Tumblr or AO3 and even reading this very post, but a platform where they have official accounts is still a different thing! I even feel uncomfortable talking about the podcast creators using their first names so much. To my ear, referring to a total stranger by first name, especially if it's a shortened form, sounds so rude! I'm not their friend, I don't have that right! But, of course, writing something like “Mr Walker” in my liveblogs would have been even weirder, nobody does that...

Is it a common experience to not even think about fanfiction after listening to Hieron, but going straight to AO3 after C/w? I feel like since Hieron is still a work in progress, writing/reading about it is stepping on the GM&players' toes, and C/w is finished so it's like they gave us the keys to the playground, it's the fandom's turn now. This story has so much blanks and they must be filled! In one of the early episodes they joked that something cute they said would encourage people to ship Mako/Cass and I was like "Bold of you to assume they aren't already" and, indeed, I was right and it's the most popular C/w ship on AO3. Too bad I’m so indifferent to it…

It’s a shame we never had a full scene with Ariadne or even learned what they were up to during the finale.

I still don't understand how Ibex went from “evil CEO” to “leader of a proletarian revolution”, these sound like completely opposite concepts to me

I probably have talked about this too much and have pretty much given up on ever getting a clear picture due to all of these reimaginings but… Righteousness and Voice… Ibex takes Righteousness out of Mako but he still has Voice, that was pretty much openly stated, correct? So how does that work? I’m guessing Righteousness is hidden somewhere in Voice’s code. But if so:

Did Maryland know? On the one hand, she’s too competent not to. On the other, why would she ever allow or accept that?

How did Righteousness not get corrupted by Rigour too? Maybe it did, but broke off the connection with the rest of itself to contain the damage? Or maybe, on the contrary, it kept in contact and was sending intel to Ibex the whole time? But in that case he would have provided more help in the finale.

[mercurialsmile]

Any tips on writing nonbinary characters? Like, any 'do's and 'don't's? I really wanna get it right, so I thought I'd ask someone who actually identifies as nonbinary :)

Any tips on writing nonbinary/trans characters?

I got two asks for this (maybe from the same person?) and it’s taken me some time to write an answer since this is such a broad... question. 

Thing is, nonbinary is both a gender in and of itself but also kinda an umbrella term? Since you also have people who are agender, bigender, genderfluid, etc. who would also technically fall under the umbrella, but don’t call themselves nonbinary since that’s not the label they want, and since the latter labels are a lot more... specific. 

Non-binary simply means that someone identifies as a gender outside the binary of man and woman and that’s it. 

There’s also the fact that I’m pretty sure I have some opinions other nonbinary people wouldn’t agree with (for example, I dislike neopronouns. Xir/Xe and Zie/Zir are the only ones that’s pronounceable to me. And I straight up dislike nounself pronouns and actively avoid people who only use nounself pronouns since to me, they are. Too hard and complicated to use. I remember reading a really good post on why nounself pronouns are linguistically incorrect in English and how to properly format them to be correct, but I dunno where that post is now) which is also why I have been hesitant about this.

Also it’s a complex... hmm thing. So yeah.

I think the first thing to ALWAYS remember when writing a minority character is that their status as a minority is not their only trait. Don’t use cliches. Don’t make them one-dimensional and make an enby’s entire personality revolving around the fact they’re enby. It’s othering, at least to me, and just plain bad writing. 

Another thing is, even tho I wish there were more books out there about being enby (are there any really out there at all?) for the most part I think cis authors should be careful and kinda tread around writing about an enby’s life and being enby. Unless you have done a shit ton of research, know exactly what you’re doing, and have talked to multiple different enbys (and not just over text either), I would merely have the character. Be there.

1) it’s a lot easier who wants to do all that research?? 

2) still counts as rep (as long as it’s positive)

So how do you write (possibly?) positive rep for a enby character? Let’s go back to pronouns. The most versatile and acceptable pronouns for enby people is they/them tbh. It’s completely gender-neutral. There are enby people who use gendered pronouns as well (She/her, he/him, maybe they use all three!) but writing-wise, it would be easiest to keep to one set of pronouns to make the writing easier to read. I dunno about anyone else, but I for sure would get tripped up and confused if a character’s pronouns change throughout a book. (Maybe it can be written well idk but I don’t think I’d like it personally sorry) so for the most part? I suggest just sticking with they/them. It’s the easiest to write. 

Also, I suggest to never call your enby characters “it”. Yes, some irl enbys like “it” as a pronoun, but to most it’s dehumanizing, so it’s best to avoid it I think. 

Interestingly enough, even tho they/them is the easiest to write with, it can also be a little tricky at times! Sometimes you’ll have to format sentences differently so readers can understand the difference between the singular and plural forms of they/them. Personally, it’s a fun writing exercise to me! So if anything, writing about an enby character can actually help stretch some different writing muscles so to speak. 

And speaking of pronouns, never ever have the narration misgender the character. Never. Hell, usually, I don’t even have characters or even the VILLAINS of my books misgender characters. And my reasoning behind this is: I dislike using transphobia/enbyphobia as a tool to show a villain is evil--their actions alone in the novel should be enough. And two: if even the evilest of villains aren’t transphobic... that says a lot to me. It speaks VOLUMES and is a lot more powerful of an (unsaid) statement then having your villains be transphobes. (but that’s just my opinion ofc!!) 

Now, to me, if you’re just writing about a enby side character, I would just have them. Be there. Not misgendered, everyone regarding them using the proper pronouns, and avoiding gendered language (which can be hard as it is hardwired into us without us even knowing, for instance!) so make sure you edit accordingly. 

Also, and I think this should be OBVIOUS by now, but PLEASE do not write a “forced coming out” scene. Like, where the cis character walks in on an enby character changing clothes or whatever. Like. That is. So over with and done. Ik that terrible trope fits trans men/women characters better, but I think it’s still important to say here, esp if you’re writing an enby character who tries to pass as the opposite of their birth gender or binds/stuffs/packs/etc at all. It’s uncomfortable, possibly triggering, and honestly? Super cliche. It’s bad writing, my friend. 

And whether or not you want to make the direct statement that they are an enby is kinda up to you? There’s arguments for and against it. If you can fit it into the story safely without making anything clunky, go for it! You can either have the character themselves tell someone how they identify, or maybe they’re being introduced and they ask the person they are introducing themselves to to use “they/them” since they are an enby. I’m sure there are other, more creative ways to do this, but yeah. This specific topic is super situational so I would have a sensitivity reader (or two!) to read over what you write to make sure it’s okay. 

Okay the last thing I’m gonna talk about is character description. Ignoring the fact I personally am terrible at it, there’s a kinda huge divide here. 

For one, a lot of authors and I think enby people in general don’t want others to know their birth gender, which is understandable. And with writing, there isn’t any visual clues besides what you write down. The world is your oyster, you can have your character look like anything, the reader won’t know the birth gender unless you use gendered language. 

The tricky thing is this, tho: the stereotypical enby person/character is someone who is skinny white and vaguely masculine. I, personally, despise this stereotype with my whole being. Imo, enby people can dress and look however they want. Clothes are just fabrics we put onto our flesh bodies. If girls can enjoy pants and boys can like dresses and skirts, then enbys can dress however they want to as well. That’s a freedom I think everyone should have. Clothes don’t dictate gender. Enby people also can’t control what they look like. Some people.. just won’t ever be able to pass as androgynous (unless they Really Work at it, like me!!) and it’s unfair to them I think as well. 

That being said, writing an enby with feminine clothing, for example, will probably have your reader think of them as DFAB, unfortunately, unless you are really careful.

Other things that can make your reader think of an enby’s birth gender: describing them having to wear a bra or having a period, describing if they have to shave their face or not or how much facial hair they grow, describing their genitalia AT ALL, describing them with certain face/body shapes, describing their hair length (possibly), if they wear a binder or stuff a bra or pack, describing if they wear makeup and the list can go on. 

Some people would think you should avoid this completely, which is why vaguely masculine is what people go for. it’s the typical androgynous look (which isn’t bad pe se and I don’t wanna insult anyone who looks like that!) but imo what would be more normalizing and important is to have enby characters look how they want, choose if they wanna wear a binder or not, if they wear makeup, and etc. 

Some people might thing the above is completely fine and that it’s important to show anyone can be enby and you’re still valid as an enby even if you might not “pass” for instance or don’t try your best to conceal certain secondary sex characteristics. Others might think you should make your enby characters as androgynous as possible, even in the stereotypical way. 

Which view is right? Dammed if I know, and I don’t think one is or not. But it is something to think about. I think the stereotypical response to a cis author would be to go with the safest option and allow enby authors write about enby characters breaking gender roles, but honestly, it is your character. Whether you make your enby character vaguely masculine to avoid those pitfalls or go balls to the walls and do whatever you want because enbys can dress and look how they want fuck you all is up to you. Do what you think your character would do and design them to match their personality. I don’t think people should be boxed into what sort of characters they are allowed to make. 

And don’t be afraid to make mistakes. It’s okay if you fuck something up by accident or are accidentally insensitive. And honestly? Groups of people aren’t a hivemind. No matter how good your representation is, there will be someone who disagrees with you and thinks you didn’t “write it correctly”

all I can say is: learn as much as you can, always strive to keep learning and listening, and do the best you can. You can’t succeed if you don’t try and you can’t learn without making a few mistakes along the way. 

(And as for trans characters... I myself am not a trans man/woman so idk how to best say what not to do, but I think it follows the same as above for the most part? I’d ask the opinion of a trans man or woman first rather than an enby like me, as even I have fucked up writing about my trans woman character in the past. I’ve learned a lot since then, but I think I am still learning and would rather not educate someone on a topic such as that. Also this post is already long and I am Tired of writing about this topic lol) 

I rambled a lot as usual and I am so so sorry. It’s late and this was SUCH a broad question I didn’t?? Really know how to answer so YEAH SORRY if this is no help at all!! I tried my best!!